Acute stroke care coordination in the United States: Variation in state laws for Emergency Medical Services and hospitals.

Background: Lack of care coordination between Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and hospitals contributes to delay of acute stroke (AS) treatment. In the United States, states have adopted laws to improve the quality of EMS and hospital care; the degree to which these laws create regulatory incentives to promote care coordination between them is less well known. We examined state variation in attributes of laws that may influence AS care coordination between EMS and hospitals.

Enhancing availability of services to control hypertension through a team-based care approach that includes pharmacists.

Background: Primary care physician (PCP) shortages are expected to increase. The Michigan Medicine Hypertension Pharmacists' Program uses a team-based care (TBC) approach to redistribute some patient care responsibilities from PCPs to pharmacists for patients with diagnosed hypertension.

Objective: This evaluation analyzed whether the Michigan Medicine Hypertension Pharmacists' Program increased the availability of hypertension management services and described facilitators that addressed barriers to program sustainability and replicability.

Policy implementation strategies to address rural disparities in access to care for stroke patients.

Context: Stroke systems of care (SSOC) promote access to stroke prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation and ensure patients receive evidence-based treatment. Stroke patients living in rural areas have disproportionately less access to emergency medical services (EMS). In the United States, rural counties have a 30% higher stroke mortality rate compared to urban counties.